Tribunal-2 seeks documents of 1972 cases against Afsar

Documents of two cases filed against Afsar Hossain alias Chutu in 1972 were sought by International Crimes Tribunal-2 yesterday after the defence said charges in those matched two of the three brought against Afsar and Mahidur Rahman, alleged Razakar Bahini members of Chapainawabganj, in a war crimes case.

In another war crimes case against Forkan Mallik, a family member corroborated previous testimonies over the murder of a Patuakhali man whose body was found in a char two days after being abducted alleged by Forkan and his associates during the Liberation War.

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Meanwhile, the investigation officer in the war crimes case against Sheikh Sirajul Haque alias Siraj Master, Khan Akram Hossain and Abdul Latif Talukder testified finding primary evidence of their involvement in crimes against humanity and genocide during the 1971 Liberation War.

AFSAR, MAHIDUR'S CASE

The Chapainawabganj district and sessions judge was directed to collect and submit within 10 days of receiving the tribunal's order the documents of the cases filed with Shibganj Police Station against Afsar and some others.

The order, in which the district judicial magistrate and superintendent of police were also directed to assist the judge, came after defence counsel Abdus Sobhan Tarafder submitted incomplete documents while cross-examining the war crimes case's investigation officer.

ZM Altafur Rahman, also the 10th and last prosecution witness, will be further questioned today, when the three-member tribunal led by Justice Obaidul Hassan decided to resume proceedings. Mahidur and Afsar plead innocence.

FORKAN'S CASE

Hafez Kalifa of Mirzaganj upazila's Kakrabunia village was a local Awami League leader who passed information about Razakars to freedom fighters, his daughter-in-law Saleha Begum told the tribunal as the 12th prosecution witness.

Hafez, her uncle-in-law Akkel Kalifa and a neighbour Suren had gone to neighbouring Subidkhali Bazar on a day in the last part of the Bangla month of Sraban but only the latter two returned in the evening.

They had told her about the abduction from the market and the body's discovery. The tribunal adjourned proceedings until today.

SIRAJ MASTER, AKRAM, LATIF'S CASE

The three were members of the Razakar Bahini in Bagerhat, Helal Uddin testified before International Crimes Tribunal-1 as the last prosecution witness, presenting organisational documents of the Pakistani occupation army's auxiliary force.

To prove the seven charges, the prosecution had produced as witnesses him and 31 others among 68 he had enlisted after interviewing 74 persons of Bagerhat, he added.